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Topic Review (Newest First)

04-02-2014 11:10 PM

RebelGSD

My first thought was old dog vestibular syndrome. My dog suddenly fell off the bed and could not get up.

04-02-2014 11:01 PM

Rottendog

I had an elderly Lab with Vestibular and the symptoms were pretty much the same as described. She had several occurrences over the span of several years. I finally lost her at 17 to old age/another episode. Her first episode took her from a strong, running playing dog to a sick old dog in short notice. She was in the den and I was in my office close by working and she just fell over suddenly. Twitching eyes, drooling, nausea. The drooling comes from the nausea is what my vet told me. I thought she had a stroke because that is what the symptoms look like. He also explained to me the damage mostly comes from them not eating. He put her on meds and it took a few weeks but she regained most of her activity and normal routines. She did have to have help up and down stairs after that. She then had two more over the next couple of years. The meds work well. I actually kept a set of them at the house for any re-occurrences. But the last time was not treatable. She had a episode and got her to the vet. He hospitalized her and treated her for 48 hours but no response to treatment this time. My vet's thoughts were a brain tumor that was causing pressure, especially with her history. My reason for sharing all of this is that if the meds don't have an immediate improvement, don't give up. My dog had little by little improvement. It took her two to three weeks to get back to a fairly normal state but you should be able to see some improvement very soon. And this does tend to be a situation with older dogs. My girls first episode was around 13. My best wishes for a speedy recovery for your boy

04-02-2014 05:53 PM

Jakesworld

During heavy flea season, before I sprayed the house, we had a problem. I put drops on the dogs, but apparently it didn't work for the ****zu. He had these same symptoms, only he would collapse for a few seconds. Can't remember if there was drooling tho. He was given a capstar pill (kills ALL fleas in 30 minutes) and iron suppliments. Vet said it would take 3 days to make more blood. We caught it in time. What an eye opener!! I felt awful and responsible for not checking his body for fleas, like I do with Jake. He wasn't scratching much. Anyway, do some blood work. Could be anemic. There's other causes for anemia besides fleas. Good luck. Hope he feels better.

04-02-2014 05:28 PM

Mister C

Quote:

Originally Posted by cornishbecky

how is vestibular diagnosed?

He was only seen one week ago (for medication check) and everything was fine (except existing HD, new pannus diagnosis and cdrm)
Vet said to see what hes like in the am, to decide course of action.

We didn't do radiographs so, to be honest, the vet wasn't 100% sure of the diagnosis but she seemed quite confident about it.

My non-vet understanding is that vestibular syndrome interferes with their inner ear and sense of balance. Imagine spinning yourself around 20 times--that really dizzy feeling that you get--I think it is like that but all the time.

So unsteady walking, standing, etc would be hints. So is nausea. My dog started with leaning to the left while she was in the cart. As it progressed she couldn't walk a straight line and would end up doing circles. Then she had trouble standing. Then the big event occurred where she got suddenly much, much worse with rapid eye twitching (left, right, left, right like she was watching the world spin) and total inability to stand. She was panicking at this point.

I understand that vestibular syndrome usually resolves in a short time and many vets take a wait and see approach.

For us it was a different story. I'll tell you the rest if you want but don't want to upset you.

04-02-2014 05:06 PM

cornishbecky

how is vestibular diagnosed?

He was only seen one week ago (for medication check) and everything was fine (except existing HD, new pannus diagnosis and cdrm)
Vet said to see what hes like in the am, to decide course of action.

04-02-2014 04:57 PM

Mister C

Quote:

Originally Posted by JakodaCD OA

eyes twitching? could also be vestibular?

I'm not a vet tho. Poor boy hope he will feel better soon..

Quote:

Originally Posted by cornishbecky

I didn't see any eye twitching, Vet looked in his ears (with that tool they use), I trust my vet 110% but its just frustrating not having an answer.
He's just in his bed, seems calm but still slightly rapid breathing and slow and wobbly when up, hes eaten and been drinking a fair amount.

I am not a vet either but my dog did have vestibular syndrome.

I am embarrassed to admit that this went undiagnosed for a while. At first, she started leaning a bit and was more unsteady on her feet. But she also had severe HD, arthritis and was over 15 yrs old at this point so I thought it was simply further progression of her other issues. Then she got even more picky about her food likely because she was feeling nauseous but at the time we chalked it up to her usual pickiness about her food.

Then the leaning and locomotion became more difficult but again, not that unusual considering her severe HD (she used a cart at this point).

Only after weeks of this did she start the eye twitching and things got much, much worse at that point. She went from not so bad to terrible in the span minutes. I think at that point the whole world was spinning before her eyes. She got really scared and her heart was racing--it took a while to calm her down. The vet said it was the worst case she had ever seen.

Vestibular may not explain the pale gums, however. It may explain the heart rate since he may be scared and very disoriented with the world spinning.

As I recall, vestibular is either not treated or an anti-nausea med given.

Best of luck to you and your pup.

04-02-2014 04:42 PM

cornishbecky

I didn't see any eye twitching, Vet looked in his ears (with that tool they use), I trust my vet 110% but its just frustrating not having an answer.
He's just in his bed, seems calm but still slightly rapid breathing and slow and wobbly when up, hes eaten and been drinking a fair amount.

04-02-2014 04:41 PM

Anubis_Star

Did you do any diagnostics? Pale gums... blood work to make sure he wasn't anemic? Xrays to look at heart and abdomen?

My dog is currently under the vets for this but they are unsure yet as to the cause, but i would like to know if anyone has had a GSD with these symptoms and what the cause was.
Hes 9 yrs old has HD/CDRM/and very recently pannus. on tramadol.

vet thinks something wrong with heart or something going wrong in the brain, was sent home with a dose of diazapam (to calm down and sleep, he did calm abit but not sleep) and to see what hes like in the morning to see what the next step is.
I was so shocked to see him like this.